What’s letting your business down?
If you missed it last week, I was busy celebrating my marriage (minus the tax relief 
). As a treat, my husband took my to a lovely lodge hotel set in the midst of a golf course.
As we drove through the tree laden, leaf encrusted roads leading up to the lodge, I thought, “spellbinding”. As we reached the lodge itself I thought, “impressive”. When they showed us our suite (which we’d been upgraded to because of the lack of four poster beds) my smile said it all. The stay was relaxed, the setting was romantic, the service was good and the dinner was pretty spectacular. Then morning came and we were shown to our breakfast table…..
“Can we have the breakfast menu please?” My husband asked (we both have a thing about poached eggs). “Sorry sir, it’s buffet only and you’ll have to get it behind the wall there”.
- Image via Wikipedia
At first, we thought we’d heard wrong. Surely, the great spa experience, super service and elaborate menu offered last night couldn’t be upstaged by a standard buffet experience? But it was. ‘Behind the wall’ was the usual array of lukewarm eggs, sausages that looked like they’d through a tanning machine and all the rest that goes hand in hand with bog standard buffet style breakfasts.
The point is, we left our 24 hour stay there thinking, “Great place but shame about the breakfast.”
This got me thinking about my own freelance writing business and how we let ourselves down in business sometimes.
All the time I worked with big companies, my main frustration was that they had the big ideas but lacked the thought and attention to detail. It didn’t matter that the numbers were going down or that customers were shouting till they were blue in the face – their energy was pent looking for more products and services to launch.
Saying that, I don’t think it’s symptomatic of big businesses only. While I think small businesses have more power to offer an end to end experience, I also think we can fall into this trap of carrying our big ideas through but forgetting the small things. A good example of this is ‘homepages’ or poorly written website content. Of what use is a great looking homepage if the users can’t find their way around the site?
Often it’s the smallest of things that can affect your business and more importantly, the potential to help the word spread organically. If I were to write a full review of the lodge we went to, I’d be letting my readers down by not mentioning the poor breakfast even if I were to build the rest of the experience up.
I think the challenge is in actually finding out what little detail matters to your customers and then ensuring you have it covered. Sarah recently mentioned how Essex Courier Services unpacks goods for people who need it. I bet that extra bit makes a big difference to their business. Another business I know of, making a difference, is Anita of Nitajoy – she doesn’t just make personalised cards, she breathes them and shares her experience with the most unexpected little touches.
As a freelance writer in this big, competitive world, I need to find out what small thing matters most to my customers and will make me different from the rest of the writers out there. After all, I want to be more than just a name among millions of others that come up in Google’s listings.
My gut instinct says, it’s not being different that matters but what makes you different over your competitors.
So, in my quest to seek out the things that let businesses down, I’d like to open to floor to you…
What do you think lets businesses in your industry down?
And, what makes you different? How do you excite, entertain, surprise, and leave your customers wanting more?
Or better still, challenge yourself and ask the honest question….
What’s letting your business down?
Leave a comment and let the birds know!
16 Responses to What’s letting your business down?
All that jazz – All in A Day
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I’m not going to answer your questions, Bian, but volunteer an experience of my own.
We have a supplier in y industry who is CONSTANTLY launching new products, each one no doubt the pinnacle of its type. But along the way, they have a poor record in quality control, delayed delivery times (often running into weeks) and general incomprehension when anyone complains to them. Their attitude seems to be “but we’re lovely, and we bring out lots of new products”.
But I wish they would concentrate on their core brand and keeping their customers happy. We have come so close to dropping them on more that one occasion, because they are so frustrating to deal with.
I’m not going to answer your questions, Bian, but volunteer an experience of my own.
We have a supplier in y industry who is CONSTANTLY launching new products, each one no doubt the pinnacle of its type. But along the way, they have a poor record in quality control, delayed delivery times (often running into weeks) and general incomprehension when anyone complains to them. Their attitude seems to be “but we’re lovely, and we bring out lots of new products”.
But I wish they would concentrate on their core brand and keeping their customers happy. We have come so close to dropping them on more that one occasion, because they are so frustrating to deal with.
Strange coincidence, Bian – Linda and I have already started discussing much of this topic in her recent post, here:
http://www.birdsontheblog.co.uk/if-i-said-mind-your-own-business-would-you-think-i-was-rude/comment-page-1/#comment-1457
You’ll be particularly interested to see what Linda says about ways in which you are different from your competitors, and she even sets out a structure for you to use when considering this in the light of your marketing.
Twitter: SuzeStMWrites
Strange coincidence, Bian – Linda and I have already started discussing much of this topic in her recent post, here:
http://www.birdsontheblog.co.uk/if-i-said-mind-your-own-business-would-you-think-i-was-rude/comment-page-1/#comment-1457
You’ll be particularly interested to see what Linda says about ways in which you are different from your competitors, and she even sets out a structure for you to use when considering this in the light of your marketing.
Twitter: SuzeStMWrites
I so much agree about those breakfasts, Bian. I too love a poached egg, and a hotel where they cook a real breakfast to your order is one that will definitely get a return visit.
Applying this lesson to our own businesses is an interesting question.
What is the software equivalent of a poached egg? I think we already do provide this – as well as our software we also sell services, and customise the decision processing engines to customers needs. That comes as an extra, and can cost more than the basic license fees, depending on the amount of work required. But we do also include unlimited online and telephone support in our base licence, and generally a couple of days on site too.
I so much agree about those breakfasts, Bian. I too love a poached egg, and a hotel where they cook a real breakfast to your order is one that will definitely get a return visit.
Applying this lesson to our own businesses is an interesting question.
What is the software equivalent of a poached egg? I think we already do provide this – as well as our software we also sell services, and customise the decision processing engines to customers needs. That comes as an extra, and can cost more than the basic license fees, depending on the amount of work required. But we do also include unlimited online and telephone support in our base licence, and generally a couple of days on site too.
What spooky timing of posts!
The key to me is that it’s difficult for us to get us to get an objective and impartial idea about what we and our industries get right or wrong – how can we unless we’re also customers?
Suze got a much truer understanding of her value to her clients by asking them.
I’ve done the same many times on my own behalf and that of my clients in the past and still do: What you get from little comments and ‘throw away’ lines can provide amazing insights…
Twitter: Linda_Mattacks
What spooky timing of posts!
The key to me is that it’s difficult for us to get us to get an objective and impartial idea about what we and our industries get right or wrong – how can we unless we’re also customers?
Suze got a much truer understanding of her value to her clients by asking them.
I’ve done the same many times on my own behalf and that of my clients in the past and still do: What you get from little comments and ‘throw away’ lines can provide amazing insights…
Twitter: Linda_Mattacks
hi guys
Thanks for your comments. I agree with the advice on this and the other posts that touched this topic. I think the glory of running your own small business is that you can ‘talk’ to your customers, so the best way is indeed to ask them and tailor your service to what they need.
B:)
hi guys
Thanks for your comments. I agree with the advice on this and the other posts that touched this topic. I think the glory of running your own small business is that you can ‘talk’ to your customers, so the best way is indeed to ask them and tailor your service to what they need.
B:)
Bian,
This post was on my mind all week in Vancouver, where we stayed in a fab looking hotel room overlooking the marina, where the beds were sublime but had for breakfast pastries, every single day!
Even though I normally like pastries I found them virtually inedible first thing in the morning, of course by the end of the week I was able to get cornflakes etc but having the ‘wrong’ breakfast didn’t start my days off very well at all.
Oh yes, the business aspect, hmmm, I would think twice before recommending the hotel which is an absolute shame as everything else was so good!
Bian,
This post was on my mind all week in Vancouver, where we stayed in a fab looking hotel room overlooking the marina, where the beds were sublime but had for breakfast pastries, every single day!
Even though I normally like pastries I found them virtually inedible first thing in the morning, of course by the end of the week I was able to get cornflakes etc but having the ‘wrong’ breakfast didn’t start my days off very well at all.
Oh yes, the business aspect, hmmm, I would think twice before recommending the hotel which is an absolute shame as everything else was so good!
Hope you had a lovely trip Sarah… not sure why my face has disappeared from my comments but you know who I am…
B
Hope you had a lovely trip Sarah… not sure why my face has disappeared from my comments but you know who I am…
B
Never, ever, ever, be disappointed by breakfast again. Shun your 5* hotels and go and stay at a 5* Gold Award Bed and Breakfast instead!
Hopton House BnB in Shropshire will take care of your every breakfast need. Check it out at http://www.shropshirebreakfast.co.uk/ Oh and the views are 5* fabulous too and… well everything’s fabulous really!
No, I’m not the owner, just a daughter-in-law of folks who moved to Shropshire and introduced me to the absolute delights of the county.
Never, ever, ever, be disappointed by breakfast again. Shun your 5* hotels and go and stay at a 5* Gold Award Bed and Breakfast instead!
Hopton House BnB in Shropshire will take care of your every breakfast need. Check it out at http://www.shropshirebreakfast.co.uk/ Oh and the views are 5* fabulous too and… well everything’s fabulous really!
No, I’m not the owner, just a daughter-in-law of folks who moved to Shropshire and introduced me to the absolute delights of the county.